


Bleeding Time Away

by Toaverse



Category: Onward (2020)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Angst, Angst and Feels, Blood, Blood and Injury, Drowning, Gen, Healing, Ian Lightfoot Needs a Hug, Injury, Near Death Experiences, barley is a good brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:40:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24522493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toaverse/pseuds/Toaverse
Summary: The Lightfoot brothers stare at the barely known dissolver, its bright green light making their eyes fill with fear. Also known as the gelatinous cube.Major injuries along the run soon follow for our favorite wizard, as well as almost getting drowned.But because of this, neither Ian or Barley will get the chance to meet their dad...(My take on the underground chase and near drowning scene, as well as a alternate ending :) )
Comments: 4
Kudos: 20





	Bleeding Time Away

**Author's Note:**

> (Sorry for the shit title... I couldn’t think of any better...)
> 
> My very own take on both the underground chase scene with the cube, as well as the near drowning scene. :D
> 
> Yes, I cant remember the exact scene, since I couldn’t find it, but I’m pretty proud of this one. :D
> 
> Enjoy!

The Lightfoot brothers stare at the barely known dissolver, its bright green light making their eyes fill with fear.

Also known as the gelatinous cube.

The green cube slowly got closer to the boys, threatening to fall flat on one of its other sides. Both brothers’ eyes widen, both having the exact same thought on their minds.

‘Run.’

Setting one step backwards, Barley accidentally sets off a boobytrap, arrows flying nearly behind them from both sides. Both Lightfoots turn around to see the deathly trap in its work. While doing so, Ian’s eyes turn to two shields that are laying their, quickly creating an idea.

“Grab the shields!” He calls out, loud enough for Barley to hear. Both of them grab each shield, and run in the flying arrows, both holding their dad between them to protect him.

The tactic succeeds mostly throughout the run, until near the end, where an arrow manages to dodge the shield, impaling through Ian’s left thigh.

He groans out of pain, and falls flat on his stomach, letting the shield drop out of his left hand to catch himself, still holding his staff in the right one.

“Crap...” Ian cusses quietly, feeling the pain kicking in.

“Ian!” Barley calls out, seeing the state his little brother is in right now. He quickly drags the younger Lightfoot away from the arrows, worrying that another might impale him.

Both brothers look behind them to see that the gelatinous cube is getting closer and closer, ready to dissolve all three of the Lightfoots.

“Are you okey? Can you still walk on it?” Barley asks worryingly.

“Y-yes, I can still walk.” Ian lies, trying to stand back on his feet with an arrow in his thigh and all. The 16 year old succeeds in standing on two feet again, but the pain in his left thigh is horrendous.

The boys look in front of them to meet a spiked pit that they have to cross. Ian quickly looks behind him, seeing the green cube meters away from them. He shuts his brain off in that moment, shouting the first spell that comes in his mind.

“Bridgrigar Invisia!” Ian shouts with all his hearts fire, the spell immediately doing its job.

The boy looks at the spiked pit, fully believing the bridge is there. He reaches out his right foot to step on it, trying to ignore the agonizing pressuring pain in his left thigh. He expects his foot to land on the bridge, but that didn’t happen.

The boy’s foot steps through the air, not landing on anything. For a millisecond or so, Ian questions himself if the spell had failed him, but the next thing he feels is an agonizing pain in his foot.

The 16 year old jerks his head to his right foot, seeing that his shoe, including his foot, is pierced through a spike, blood already dripping out of the top of his shoe.

Once the pain sets in, Ian screams out of agony. Barley, who also hasn’t expected the spell not to work, pulls his little brother up so that the spike is out of his foot, and tosses him over his shoulder. He takes a few steps back, and when doing so, the gelatinous cube is just centimeters away from them.

Looking back at the pit full with spikes, Barley concludes that there’s only one option left.

“I carry you, you carry dad!” Barley tells his younger brother.

“Got it!” Ian says, understanding what to do. “Aloft Elevar!” he calls out, aiming his staff at the pair of legs that is their dad. This time, the spell works, as Ian lifts Wilden up in the air.

Barley looks one last time at the giant cube, before taking a sprint to the spiked pit. This scared Ian, mentally asking himself what the heck his brother is thinking. Barley then jumped over the pit with Ian still on his shoulder, and lands just on the edge of the other side. While barely on the other side, Ian pulls his dad above the pit along with them, the pair of legs missing the green cube by a second.

Not knowing or caring where they’re going, Barley runs himself and his brother and dad into a round, long room with a huge round tile thing that he makes sure not to step on. Assuming that they’re safe here, Ian let Wilden walk again, carefully putting him on the ground.

Thinking the same thing, Barley carefully puts his younger brother on the ground, having a wall behind him to lean on. He then kneels down and carefully looks at the arrow that’s still in Ian’s thigh.

“Y-you’re not gonna rip that thing out of me, d-do you?” Ian asks his older brother, not wanting to suffer even more pain than he already feels.

“Ian, I’m no medical expert, but that arrow has to be removed.” Barley says, looking his brother dead in the eyes. He then grips the arrow with one hand, and uses the other to put some pressure on the wound when the thing’s out. “Okey, on the count of three.” Ian already bites his lip to not make a sound out of pain. “1...”

But before Barley can even count further, both brothers here water leaking in the room out of multiple openings. The older brother looks around to look for their dad, when he sees the pair of legs stand on a wrong tile, making this yet another boobytrap.

Ian’s mind instantly panics, knowing that if an open flesh wound gets in touch with water, that it leads to more pain. And he has two of those...

“Oh no...” Barley says panically, trying to find some kind of exit or opening out of this. He looks at Ian, who is just as panicked as he is, and kneels down in front of him. “Y-you can keep your head above water like this, right...?”

The 16 year old nods unsurely, not sure if he can do it. He can feel the burning pain in his right foot and left thigh as the water reaches his wounds, so he has no choice but to go through it.

Having the water already reach Ian’s waist, Barley quickly manage to put his little brother on his shoulders, trying to get him as far from the water as possible. He tries to ignore Ian’s blood that’s dripping on his clothing, as well as the arrow that pokes his left cheek. Barley grips the back of the pointy thing, wanting to pull it out of his younger brother’s flesh so badly.

“I can rip the arrow out if you want-“

“No!”

The water has already reached Barley’s waist, quickly making its way up to Ian’s open foot. The 16 year old hisses, feeling the burning pain in his wounded foot once again, feeling the same with his arrow impaled thigh. It hurts like hell, but the youngest Lightfoot has to stay strong.

“W-wait, where’s dad?!” Barley asks, who almost can’t speak anymore, the water already reaching his face.

“Hold your breath, I’m gonna look for him!” Ian calls out, looking around to see if their dad is somewhere under water.

He eventually sees the pair of legs walking in the water, and the 16 year old aims at them to cast Aloft Elevar. It works, as Ian pulls the weight of his dad’s legs up to see them come above water in the brother’s direction.

“Barley, can you grab dad’s leash for a second?” Ian asks as he holds Wilden above the the water that gets higher within each second.

Barley complies, grabbing the end of the leash with his left hand, to which the youngest Lightfoot drops the pair of legs in the water. And knowing for sure that Barley has the leash in hand, Ian throws himself off of his brother’a shoulders in the water without warning, his head barely missing the hard bottom.

Having his head finally above water and breathing again, Barley almost got a mini heart attack when he felt Ian throw himself off of his shoulders. He quickly pulls his younger brother back above water once he caught sight of him.

“What the hell?!” Barley calls out, his heart feels like it’s ready to burst out of his chest out of shock.

“I want you to breath too, you know!” Ian snaps back.

Both brothers look up at the hatch of this water filling well hell, not being able to feel the ground anymore since the water already reaches a little more then half of the well. Looking closer, Barley sees a symbol similar to the one on that tile that they weren’t suppose to step on.

“Hold up...” Barley says, before he takes a breath of air and dives underwater. He swims to the bottom where that huge tile is, and tries to push it to open the hatch. It doesn’t work, since he isn’t heavy enough underwater, as well as having to breath again since Barley’s lungs are running out of air. He comes above water, finally being able to breath again. “We where suppose to step on that thing.” Barley says.

“What?!”

They look up at the hatch to see that the water nearly reaches it by centimeters, so they’re gonna get short on air very soon. The brothers can already reach the hatch with their hands, the water barely under their chins. Barley sees Wilden’s legs floundering in the water, and then he gets an idea.

“Dad!” Barley calls out, being absolutely sure that this idea would work. He grips the leash tightly, and lets the pair of legs sink to the round tile of the well, but they didn’t stand on the tile yet.

While trying to lead their dad to stand on that button thing, the Lightfoot brothers fill their lungs with one last gasp of air, the water almost having reached the top. Both Ian and Barley have their eyes tightly shut while their lungs run out of air by the second, both desperately begging the same thing in their minds.

‘Come on, step on that thing!’

But after seconds that feel like minutes, Wilden still hasn’t found that round tile.

And that’s when Ian’s lungs run out of air.

The 16 year old tries with all his might to keep his mouth closed to prevent himself from drowning, even biting hard on his lip again, but he finds himself taking small breaths of non-existing air, his lungs being filled with water instead.

And Barley doesn’t notice any of this, having his eyes shut and too focused on opening the hatch.

And finally, finally, Barley manages to get Wilden to step on the round tile, opening the the hatch.

But that hatch opens so...slow. Too slow...

It is when Ian sees a glimpse of the light of outside behind the opening hatch that he takes a huge breath of non-existing air, filling his lungs with a tone of water. He slowly sinks to the bottom, loosing consciousness in the process.

Barley couldn’t have been happier when he sees the hatch slowly opening, and pulls himself out of the water, taking the biggest breath of fresh air he has ever taken. He pulls Wilden’s legs out of the water from the leash, and lays on the ground for around 10 seconds, getting a hold of his breathing again.

“Wow, that had been a bit scary.” Barley says, looking at the sky. “Right, Ian?”

But no answer came.

Worry shot up in Barley’s gut as he looks around, already sitting up. His eyes eventually caught small bubbles appearing and popping in the water of the well they where just in, a cloth of blood also appearing in eye sight.

And Barley knows that can only mean one thing.

With his brain completely shut off, Barley drives back into the water filled well, desperate to save his baby brother. He sees Ian within 2 seconds of being underwater, floating unconscious with blood poring out of his foot. Swimming deeper underwater, Barley doesn’t think for a millisecond as he grabs his brother with one arm, and his staff with the other. He practically throws Ian out of the water and on the ground once Barley’s above water again.

From the millisecond he’s out of the well again, the older brother is by the younger’s side, not realizing they’re in New Mushroomton again. He tries shaking Ian out of unconsciousness, but with no avail. His brain running in all directions yet still turned off of all thinking, Barley throws his palm at his younger brother, slapping his cheek in hopes that will get him awake.

To his surprise, it worked.

Ian’s eyes shut open, feeling his chest burn as he violently coughs water up, gasping for air at the same time. He feels the agonizing pain in his foot and thigh again, along with his chest feeling like it burns in flames, making it feel worse.

Feeling overwhelmed with relieve, Barley takes his brother in his arms, trying to calm him down while also hugging him. Yet the feeling of it being his fault didn’t leave Barley

Ian’s breathing eventually becomes stable, taking long and calm breaths for the next minute to try and calm himself down.

“Hey...” Barley says softly, still holding his little brother in his arms. “A-are you okey...?”

“Yea...” Ian answers hoarsely, coughing a few times. “I’m okey...”

Barley nods, carefully putting his little brother back on the ground. It then accures to him that that arrow in Ian’s thigh is still not out of his flesh, and don’t even get him started about the younger’s bleeding foot...

“Alright, this arrow is going out.” Barley says straight forward., pointing at the sharp thing. Unfortunately, it got Ian in a fit of distress.

“N-no no no no! Please don’t!” He pleads, not wanting to feel any more pain.

“Okey okey, uhm...” Barley pulls with a swift movement his beanie off, giving it to the younger elf. “Tear this apart when it hurts, okey?”

Before Ian can even say anything back, the older brother is already in position to rip the arrow carefully out.

“On the count of three.” Barley says to Ian, who is already tugging on the cloth of the beanie. “1..” the younger elf grunts his teeth. “2...” the nervousness grows in the 16 year old by each millisecond. “3...”

And with one pull, the arrow is out. It hurts like hell, but that thing is finally out of him. Barley throws it into the well, not wanting to see the pointy thing covered in his brother’s blood and guts. The older elf then does his vest off, and wraps it around Ian’s thigh, preventing further bleeding.

“Thanks...” the 16 year old says quietly, yet loud enough for Barley to hear.

The older elf then looks at his brother’s bleeding foot, which looks absolutely horrendous.

“Ian, you seriously need to get to a hospital. I don’t want you getting any infections.”

“B-but what about dad? We’ve come so far!” Ian pleads.

The 19 year old looks at his little brother, hoping that he changes his mind that his health is more important, but he wouldn’t. Barley then looks at the sky, and sees the sun setting in the sky.

“Shit, the sun’s almost down!”

Ian looks at the sun as well, not aware that they’re running out of time.

“There’s still time...” he says tiredly, laying his head on the hard stone ground.

Barley doesn’t answer, only picking up Ian with one arm, and holding their dad’s leash along with the staff in the other, bringing all of them to a cliff side so they can all watch the sun go under.

The 16 year old wants to protest, but feels to tired to do so. He feels himself being put on the ground, sitting next to the pair of legs that is his dad.

“Alright, you talk to dad while I’m patching up your foot, okey?” Barley suggests.

“Fine...” Ian answers, patting the foot of his dad with his hand while the older brother got to work.

The first thing Barley does is carefully removing his brother’s shoe, which is covered in blood. He succeeds, along with a few hisses from Ian. Once the shoe is removed, Barley takes a closer look at the wound, and it looks even worse.

Ian’s white sock has turned from white to dark red from all the blood being spilled. Not asking him anything anymore, Barley also removes his brother’s right shoe and sock, putting the still clean sock on Ian’s wounded left foot to serve as a bandage.

Yet it still bleeds through.

Not caring about anything anymore, Barley also removes his shoes and socks, and put both socks around his brother’s left foot, making the layers of cloth thicker.

So now they’re sitting here, Barley with his two bare feet, and Ian with four socks around his bleeding foot and his right foot bare, both watching the yellow-orange sun sink in the sea.

“Thanks...” Ian says in a tired tone, thankful for his big brother’s help.

Barley smiles at his brother, relieved that he is at least going to be okey for now.

“Wanna say anything to dad before he goes?” The 16 year old asks, looking at the older elf, to which Barley nods.

They spent the rest of that time talking, laughing, and saying everything they want to say to their dad while he’s still there, even though he can’t hear his sons. When the sun isn’t seeable anymore, the pair of legs fade into yellow dust, having each of his sons’ hands rested on his feet beforehand.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick question:
> 
> Would you like it if there’s a Hunger Games AU of Onward?
> 
> Like, the world and characters are just the same, but then with The Hunger Games traditions and everything?
> 
> Let me know if you would like the idea or not, I’m quite curious. :)


End file.
